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What is it all about

Mainly about, photography from around the world and comments on everyday life. Also check out my website here and many of my travel and other various photos here on Flickr. The map below shows you where we have been over the past few years.

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Tuesday, 29 January 2008

I have always had a fascination with water and therefore this has led to a fascination with boats or ships. I am not and will not or probably never will profess to be an expert on boats it's just that I like looking at the various designs shapes and colours.

I love canals, lakes, rivers and seas, well I certainly like to look and travel on them and one cannot help to bump into various types of watercraft. So, this B thingy has given me the opportunity to show you a few forms of the watercraft I have seen and photographed. It was a difficult choice, there are some that I have not posted for example the HMS Victory which i am sure everyone has heard of, seen on TV or visited or should do at some stage in their life.

Draw your own conclusions and let me know what you think of the following photographs, once again from my point of view they are purely subjective impressions.

Everyone, please enjoy and be involved with ABC Wednesday.

Well, here they are with a small description, don't get too bored because there are several:

Three Pleasure Boats At Kassiopi, Corfu

Love The Colours of These Fishing Nets And Contrast With The Sky At Kassiopi, Corfu

A Classic View Of Rowing Boats On Derwentwater, The Lake District

College Fjord, Alaska, A Bear Hunt (Note Not A Real Bear)

Copenhagen, The Albert Maersk, The Largest Container Ship On The seas

Copenhagen, The Albert Maersk In Comparison With A Pilot Tug Boat (Little And large)

Gdansk, Poland, A Pilot Boat, I Like The Mute Colours in This

A Little Closer To Home, Five Boats At Low Tide At Cadgwith, Cornwall

Shardlow, A Local Beauty Spot With The Addition Of A Canal Narrow Boat

Three River Cruisers In St. Petersburg, Russia

A Working Ship, St. Petersburg, Russia

A Sailing Ship In Stockholm (Thanks to Ackworth for reminding me it is the af-Chapman and is a floating youth hostel)

Another Boat In Stockholm, Perhaps Mike If He Manages To Look this Week Can Tell Me What Type

Thursday, 24 January 2008

Just read this on the BBC News website. I have linked to it because it is quite poignant to me having recently been to Alaska. It is with regards to a woman believed to be the last native speaker of the Eyak language in the north-western US state of Alaska who has died at the age of 89. One never knows but this could one day happen to the English language. It is not just species of animals that are becoming extinct but the very fabric of some countries form of communication.

Tuesday, 22 January 2008

This is great, now I can start from "A", missed about 13 weeks probably by starting late in the project (if that is what it is). I keep looking out of the window hoping for a drop or spell of some decent weather, I guess it is a long way off. Never mind, I thought I would do something different as usual and conjure up some concoction.

I bet my post is not everybody's cup of tea but once again it is subjective. You could call it almost lazy, I have taken 3 of my favourite photos and turned them into abstract art or something resembling that word.

Here they are, be totally subjective in your comments, it gives me an idea of thoughts surrounding this type of art.

Tuesday, 15 January 2008

So here we are, yes we have finally arrived at "Z". Though this is not the end I hear, we will be keeping it going again from "A". That is good because i was not involved in the early stages so missed a few of the posts.

I have found it quite exhilarating and also testing at times when trying to find a suitable subject.

So for this post I have chosen Three Below Zero. A bit of twist again, basically three photos taken on our recent trip where the temperature was below zero.

Crowfoot Glacier, Banff National Park

Mendenhall Glacier

Glacier on Glacier Bay

The last photo was taken with 300mm zoom looking up to high in the mountains, it came out quite surreal, almost like an oil painting.

By the way, for those of you who could not properly see the photos on my last post, I have uploaded again.

Wednesday, 9 January 2008

James Henry Miller was born in Sunderland on the 23rd of October 1910. He did not know it then but he would eventually be the oldest of ten, with four brothers and five sisters. He was born into relative poverty.

Above is a photo of him when he was about 2 or 3 months old.

I have restored the above photo from a very poor original (Click here to see what I mean). As you may be able to imagine life was very tough during the years he was growing up into a young man in the East End of Sunderland. During and up until he left school he had several part time jobs in various trades.

In 1926 at the age of sixteen he decided to emigrate to Canada where he worked on farms for five years. (His sister emigrated to Australia at the same time).

The above photo shows him on board a ship taking him to Canada.

On his return he found there was not much to do and not much work about so in 1931 he decided to join the army, he joined the Durham Light Infantry.

He can be seen here on the left during army training at Fenham Barracks in 1931

With the DLI he served in India (travelling much of this area) for five years and came home with many wonderful memories and photographs.

Here he can be seen in an army portrait taken in Calcutta in 1933.

After his stint in India, he came home on army reserve, he met my mother and then married and had a son in 1939. In 1939, you can all make a good guess what happened, yes of course the start of WWII. He was called up from army reserve and went to serve again for his country.

As part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) he fought under the command of Captain R Annand who became the first WWII army VC on a mission James Miller fought in. Unfortunately James was injured, captured and spent the next five years courtesy of the Germans in Stalag VIIIB in what was then Sedetenland

Here he is (circled) with a bunch of POW's at Stalag VIIIB

In 1945 he managed to escape back to England, he went to the home of his wife who he had not seen for five years, she was still there.

Again, he had several jobs, when in 1963 and 1964 he became a father again. This was at the age of 53 and 54 respectively. Obviously this must of been a big shock for both him and of course his wife. Now he had to endure (if that is the right word) family life once more when he was entering his autumn years.

In 1982, he went to Australia to meet his sister whome he had not seen for 56 yaers, this was filmed for Australian Televison, a sort of Aussie Surprise Surprise (you remember the one with Cilla Black).

In the past few years he has endured a few health problems but still managed to make pilgrimages to Belgium and France with the Dunkirk Veterans Association.

In January 2008 at the grand old age of 98 (no, wait a minute, he is still with us) he is two and a half years away from his one hundredth birthday and much looking forward to it.

Below, he is pictured last year pictured sitting in his back garden. Not the house he is currently at because at the age of ninety seven he had to move home, still, he is (they are) settling in ok now.

As you may imagine I did not take the photographs above but I did take the one below (hopefully this will keep me within ABC rules).

Who is this guy you may ask, why, he is my dad, bless him. Still YOUNG at heart.

Saturday, 5 January 2008

Sorry I missed 2 ABC posts but have been away for a while (not in prison I may add) and have now started on a shift system at work. Back on an even keel I have drafted my Y post and have now posted it, it is one of great interest to me.